time for a couple e-mails. >> took almost five hours to get gasoline to travel from mywork. praising the president for his efforts to comfort those afflicted by sandy. >> yeah, absolutely. tower, you got another one? >> i do. new york, my neighborhood was surrounded by others with power. it's crazy to look out and see the lights that you don't have. >> it really is. anne thompson's video in her piece showed perfectly, you have half the city in lights. there's uptown. and then you swing down south of about 39th street, new york city in the dark. "morning joe" starts right now. how are you? you okay? oh, no. they're suffering. >> yeah. >> we're going to help you get it all together. all right?

i promise. promise. you're going to be okay. everybody's safe, right? that's the most important thing. we're going to get this whole thing set up. my guy craig fugate is here. craig, this is the owner of the marina. i want to make sure that she knows that we're going to immediately make sure that she gets the help she needs to get this all back together. >> yes, sir. >> thank you. >> good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it's thursday, november 1st. with us on set, we have msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst, mark halperin. we have chairman of deutsche incorporated, donny deutsch. and yes, he is, he's here. msnbc political analyst and vice president and executive editor, richard wolffe. and in washington, washington anchor for "bb krrgs world news america," katty kay. good to have you all on board. willie, hi. >> hello, mika. >> a lot to get to. that's my sweater.

aftermath of the storm. sorry about that. we're not put together this morning. the death toll is rising on this. we've got a couple of new facts to bring to you. we've been watching the coverage now three days straight. everybody's exhausted. breezy point, my god, that story, i was seeing michelle miller's report on cbs, her second one. it is just amazing what has happened there. we'll get to more on that in just a moment. we're also five days away from a presidential election. and there are some literally logistical issues with that. but bill karins was watching this morning, and you said something that really rang true. three days after a disaster is when the novelty wears off, when it really starts to hurt. bill. >> yeah. i've been going through these the last 15 years of my career, and this is the end of the glow. everyone's all together. it's a novelty. you're getting through it. if you did approval ratings of all the governors in the affected areas, they'd be sky

high. this is it. from here, the anger and frustration begins to build from my experience going through these events. once you get to day three and four, all the food in your house is now gone. the gasoline crisis is going to continue. and your generator, if you have one, you can't even get gas for it. it's all of a sudden, it's cold out, too. you have to find somewhere to live. and then the cruelty of who gets power when. maybe your neighbor gets it and you don't. of course, the hospitals will get it first, the schools will get it, the police and fire stations. but then some neighborhoods get it and others don't. the frustration builds. and people want to take their anger out on someone, and it ends up in the very end being the politicians. this is it. all the positive stuff on the beach, the handshaking, the hugs, it's all great and makes everyone feel really well. and everyone so far is riding high and getting through doing what they have to do. but day after day, it begins to take its toll. and you'll hear the complaining getting louder and louder in the days ahead. they're still saying seven to ten days until some people get

power. usually the more rural, you're usually the last ones to get power, too. you know, it all sounds very positive, what we're reporting on right now, but it's still a lot of hardship. the worst is yet to come for a lot of the people that don't have electricity. >> bill karins, we'll be getting more updates for you in just a moment. now let's get to what he was talking about this morning. as a result of sandy, gosh, we've got a death toll at 72 at this point according to the associated press. 5.6 million homes and businesses along the eastern seaboard are still without electricity. they can't make any money. and they can't really live there. in new york city, while half of manhattan remains powerless, the travel situation is slowly getting back into motion. just moments ago, limited subway service has just begun in areas where the tunnels aren't flooded. governor cuomo has declared a transportation emergency, suspending fares on all mass transit, limited flights are also expected to resume at laguardia airport which suffered heavy flooding there.

the situation remains tenuous in other parts of the city. bellevue hospital, the city's top trauma center, is now shut down. last night the hospital safely evacuated its remaining 300 patients after fuel pumps to the backup generators failed. it followed two days of round-the-clock work to get the power running. at one point, employees had a 14-floor human chain to get buckets of fuel up to the generators. but with major flooding still in the basement, officials say it could be two or three weeks at least before bellevue is anywhere close to normal. directly across the river from manhattan in hoboken, new jersey, a nightmare. about 151,000 people are without power in and around the area. electricity there may not come back for as many as ten days. residents are being told to stay out of the standing water because it's dangerous. sewage and oil leaks all mucking up the water. the national guard has been bringing in food and supplies

and ferrying stranded residents to dry land. the mayor has been begging, begging for more supplies to come into hoboken. sent out a plea yesterday. those cabs, that's a shot from hoboken. certainly no one's getting a cab there, willie. >> no. you heard don zimmer, the mayor in hoboken, and she's just been on wnbc. >> i saw. >> pleading for help, pleading for people to send supplies. hoboken is one of the, i would say, undertold stories. >> i think for many of those, actually. because when you look at the swath of damage up and down the coastline, which we'll get to new jersey in just a moment, obviously the pictures taken of the most grave situations. but you've got people who are stranded who need things, who can't get them. and that will ultimately affect their health. you can't get ambulances through streets like this. you can't get medical care to people. it's a situation that for many people will go from bad to worse.

of course, the federal reaction as well as the state reaction in terms of trying to help people and the red cross, of course, all working together is going to be key. and we're looking at that closely. and, of course, that is interlaid with presidential politics. let's go to new jersey. the jersey coastline was literally reshaped by the sheer power of the waves and wind brought to the shore by sandy. gasoline is now a precious commodity with cars backed up for miles at some gas stations including some along the garden state parkway. yesterday president obama joined governor chris christie on the ground in atlantic city for an up-close look at the destruction where the storm came ashore. they also saw the damage by air. boarding the president's marine one helicopter for aerial views of the hardest-ity communities. the governor thanked the president for pledging quick federal relief to the region. it's something president obama insists will not be delayed. >> what i can promise you is that the federal government will be working as closely as

possible with the state and local officials, and we will not quit until this is done. we are not going to tolerate red tape. we're not going to tolerate bureaucracy. and i've instituted a 15-minute rule essentially on my team, you return everybody's phone calls in 15 minutes. whether it's the mayors, the governors, county officials. if they need something, we figure out a way to say yes. >> and the president of the united states and i have now had six conversations since sunday. that shows to me a level of caring and concern and interest that i think a leader should be giving to this type of situation. this was as comfortable and relaxing an interaction i've had with the president since i've known him. and i think it's because we're both doing what we want to do, which is to get things done. there will be some folks who will criticize me for complimenting him. you know what? i speak the truth. that's what i always do. sometimes you guys like it. sometimes you don't. sometimes politicians like it. sometimes they don't. but i say what i feel and what i

believe. and i'm just doing the same thing with the president of the united states. i do pinch myself every day. you know, like when i got on marine, i'm pinching myself, believe me. you know. sandy and bill christie's son on marine one is not what i thought would be happening with my life. >> whether it's chris christie complimenting the president or the president being there with chris christie, but these are two chief executives doing what has to be done in this situation. >> you know, it's so easy day after day when we lambast all these guys. at the end of the day, the overwhelming majority of guys in civil service are doing just that. obviously, it's politically astute for christie to be doing it, but he's doing it for a reason -- you genuinely believe this is a guy who wants to do right by his people. barack obama, you're seeing a human being there. and the camera doesn't lie. obviously, will this weigh an

election -- obviously, it leans clearly for obama, but what i love about this is what you see with these guys is the same what you see with the guys in the streets of hoboken that were affected. i believe people are overwhelmingly are tremendously decent including politicians, and you're seeing that. >> is it too cynical to read all this in? let's be clear. analysis is happening within the washington political bubble. but i think if you're watching on television, you're seeing chris christie doing what he has to do for his state and the president doing what a president does, arriving in a disaster zone offering consolation but also his federal help. >> yeah. that's all true. but it does have a political impact. it's not unreasonable to say what are the politics in terms of the impact after this? but one of the most corrosive things about washington in the last 8, 12 years has been the permanent campaign. and we in the media are part of that, right? we treat everything as if it's all campaigning. real politicians, people who go into public service, want to do something when they get into

office, not just win elections, the next fight. and i think what you're seeing here are two people who are trying to focus on getting stuff done, and that is -- that's what you want. you want men to stop thinking about campaigning even if it's in the back of their heads and get these incredibly difficult things moving. you know, does it have a political impact? you bet. the biggest ad in 2004 for president bush was of him hugging someone after a natural disaster. you know, the images of katrina, biggest single thing beyond the war in iraq that undermined confidence in president bush's leadership. you cannot get those images out of your head as you watch this stuff. >> except, you know what, katty kay? there is a certain appeal that i think is coming as a relief to people who are tired, who are tired of the vitriol, of the stupidity. and a politician who can work with the other side, isn't that something that in this new age of politics that's appealing? >> it's huge. and i think it's probably almost

the overriding priority of whoever gets elected next tuesday is to be able to make this country governable again. and to be able to do that by bringing about a certain amount of cooperation on the things america needs to do between republicans and democrats. we saw it yesterday between chris christie and brearack oba. and it's going to be very interesting to watch today as the campaign trail resumes, whether there's a different tone. i wouldn't be surprised -- we've heard the president using words like "romnesia." i remember being on the set with you last week, and we were all kind of depressed that that was the level the campaign had sunk to. i'm going to be interested whether we hear a different tone from the president in light of what we saw new jersey, not necessarily in references to the storm itself but just in the way he talks about politics and the way he talks about the country and the way he talks about his opponent. and i think what we saw between chris christie and barack obama yesterday is exactly what voters say they want. they want politicians who are

able to work together. and it's certainly what the country needs. and it's what financial markets, frankly, are looking at washington for more of, an ability to get things done by crossing the aisle. >> so watching the news conference of chris christie and president obama, i was online as well, and sometimes i end up on twitter. i shouldn't look. but there were some really vitriolic comments about president obama and chris christie and why would chris christie do this. willie, i was surprised by that. even those on the far right, i would think they know that chris christie is not a pawn. he's not a puppet. they would know that he's not some sort of partisan idiot. he's a politician who runs the state of new jersey. he's going to do what's best for his state. did we not know that about him before? >> he's trying to get federal aid. and if that required a little rubbing the back of the president of the united states, he thought so be it. do you believe any of that, mark halperin, republicans, some of them have suggested that that

chris christie is positioning himself for four years from now, he's undermining the romney campaign. are we reading too much into that? are they reading too much into that? >> doing just what you said, not just getting federal aid, but we saw it after 9/11 and other crises, what do people need? efficient delivery of services, but they also need inspirational leadership. and i think christie sees the value of having the president come to his state. every sound bite we showed from both of them, we're on this, we respond right away, we get what the problems are, and that's the kind of leadership as donny said if you're in public life, you must rise to the occasion and provide. remember, two of romney's top aides worked for chris christie in his gubernatorial race. they're very close to him. and yesterday they did a press conference call and one of them said we don't begrudge him doing what he's doing. he's trying to lead the state. i think this probably won't have much of an impact on the presidential race, that visit yesterday. elites like it a lot, but i don't know that people in battleground states do. >> i don't know if i agree with

that. such as we all know, we are at such a tipping point that when you see this and you see, first of all, wow, we do need more government. it's great for less government when the oil industry is doing fine, when there's no natural disasters, we see clearly a president in control. we see clearly bipartisanship at work. and katty brought up what about the president's dialogue over the next few days? i think the real challenge is on romney now. how does romney get up tomorrow or the next day and start throwing spears? i think this will go down, and we will analyze it for years to come as a tipping point. >> i was just talking about the christie piece. >> part of the whole piece. you forget these people are dads. and sometimes it's easy -- of course they're acting this way. >> they are neighbors. this goes right into the romney story we have for you. with the president surveying the storm damage yesterday, mitt romney softened his attacks, not mentioning the president's name even once during three florida

rallies. instead the former massachusetts governor emphasized the need for unity amid the national emergency. >> we come together in times like this, and we want to make sure that they have a speedy and quick recovery from their financial and in many cases personal loss. now, people coming together is what's also going to happen, i believe, on november 7th. >> so, i mean, i actually -- i don't know how much it would hurt to go further and say that the president's doing a good job. this is sort of like a foreign policy crisis where you don't step in it, and you actually maybe even step aside. i think that could be a sign of leadership as well. but he's certainly not hurting himself by going out there and awkwardly campaigning as if nothing was going on. >> i think that's right, katty. i think mitt romney did the only thing he could do which was to sort of lay low, let the president be the president of the united states for a couple

days, a grace period, i guess, and the president will be back on the campaign trail today. mitt romney back out there yesterday. mitt romney didn't even mention the president's name yesterday. i think perhaps he learned from his mistakes, if you believe they were mistakes after the attack in benghazi. >> yeah, i think, you know, clearly the campaign felt that it jumped in far too quickly in benghazi. and that was a move that they regretted. he was out yesterday in florida campaigning. there were attacks against barack obama's leadership style. and there were some references to fema and exactly the role of the federal government in emergencies. but i just think this quantifies -- i think it changes the race in the sense that it changes the tone of the last few days. and i do think that the president has managed whether it's just us inside the beltway that like the symbolism of barack obama and chris christie and chris christie's endorsement. actually the takeaway for people around the country who are all watching this closely. when i've spoken to people in texas, i've spoken to people in california, they're all focused

on this story. seeing the president in the role of president does have an impact on some undecided voters, i think. i think that there was that leadership role which he managed to fulfill, and he fulfilled it well. >> it's just an awkward situation for the romney campaign. since sandy made landfall earlier this week, we mentioned fema. mitt romney has been facing questions about his plans for funding fema and disaster response. something he suggested turning back to the states during a debate last year. attempting to clarify the position, the romney campaign released a statement reading in part, quote, this. i believe that fema plays a key role in working with states and localities to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. as president, i will ensure fema has the funding it needs to fulfill its mission, while directing maximum resources to first responders who work tirelessly to help those in need because states and localities

are in the best position to get aid to the individuals and communities affected by natural disasters. seems a little bit, willie, like he's trying to fix something as opposed to a long-term position. >> it's worth repeating the debate. john king asked if disaster relief would be better handled by the states. quote, absolutely. any time you have occasion to send it back to the states, that's the right direction. yesterday changing his story a bit. >> yeah. you know, when we screwed up in newspapers, we would call them clarifications, not corrections. this has taken them 48 hours to come up with a statement of the status quo. states take the lead. fema gets the funding it needs. it wasn't just that back in the debate he said states should take the lead on everything. he said that borrowing money for fema was immoral. it was a moral issue. that that question was of great immoral value to him in looking after hurricane victims. and maybe that's one of the reasons why if you look at the poll numbers, we just got some

interesting poll numbers from "the washington post" yesterday, 78% of americans approve of the president's handling. of this disaster. and it's about half that level for mitt romney. in a very close election. when you've got an incumbent getting 78% approval for anything, it's going to have an impact. yes, he can withdraw, yes, he can do what he can do in terms of cleaning up those comments, but the president is off the charts here. it's way beyond his base of support for this election. >> we're going to get to more polls coming up. much more ahead this morning. the three swing state polls we'll have for you. nbc news political director, chuck todd, will join us along with the host of msnbc's "politics nation," al sharpton. and mike allen with the "politico playbook." first let's go right back to bill karins for a check on the forecast. >> i also have the election-day forecast at the end. let's go to the sandy impact zone. it's the temperatures.

it hasn't been warm enough for people to stay in their homes. i've heard stories of families all staying in the same bed with multiple blankets on them just to stay warm. a lot of people will need other places to go. it's now november. and look at the possibility of another week without power with temperatures like this. it's just not safe or good for anyone. the storm itself still lingering over upstate new york headed into southern portions of quebec. this is it. we're going to finally get rid of sandy and hopefully we'll never deal with anything like this for a long, long time up in the northeast again. just cold conditions behind it. a little raining back towards buffalo and syracuse and near the pittsburgh area, but that should be exiting during the day also. as far as the rest of the forecast, typically when you've got a big, huge storm like this, the rest of the country is rather quiet. that's the case with the southeast, the midwest, dry weather all the way to southern california. had a pretty big storm yesterday in the northwest. now, let's advance to the next forecast of importance, and that's for election day. of course, the weather does affect turnout. the one question mark has been this little storm that could possibly develop off the

mid-atlantic coast. indications were it could go up the coast or offshore. all indications are hinting it's going to go offshore and not be a big impact for the mid-atlantic area including the sandy cleanup zone. the only states where the turnout could be lower because of weather, possibility of wintry weather and rainy conditions, minnesota, wisconsin and iowa. and of course all eyes on wisconsin. i'll have that fine-tuned forecast as election day approaches. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. honey, they have the 55 inch lg... [ mom ] we already have a tv. would you like to know more about it? yeah, but let me put my wife on speaker. hi! hi. it's led and it has great picture quality. i don't know... it's ultra slim... maybe next year. you could always put it on layaway and pay a little at a time. alright. we'll take it! ah! i love you! hmm!

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25 past the hour. time now to take a look at the "morning papers." "usa today" and analysis by the paper reveals many coastal cities in sandy's path ignored. federal incentives to prepare for severe flooding. 100 municipalities in zones declared federal disaster areas

received the worst ratings from the government for taking basic steps to minimize flood damage. among them, atlantic city, point pleasant beach and toms river, new jersey. some of the hardest-hit places in the storm. >> "charleston post," the social security numbers of 3.6 million south carolina residents were hacked from department of revenue databases. 675,000 business records exposed as well. barely any of the data was encrypted. the state has offered residents free credit monitoring, but class action lawsuits are already being filed. >> "the washington post," facebook stock fell about 4% as employees were allowed to sell their shares for the first time. the mandatory lockup period expired on monday making 234 million new shares available to go on the market. but since nasdaq was shut down, the last two days, employees were forced to wait. >> "the los angeles times," the u.s. customs and border patrol cuts, smugglers taking an

unorthodox route to try and cross the southern border, going over the fence in a car. the two suspects drove a jeep cherokee up a ramp set up along a 14-foot-high in arizona and got stuck there. agents say the suspects ran back to mexico and escaped. >> from china or the u.s.? >> leaving a jeep cherokee behind. let's go to "politico" and mike allen with a look at the "playbook." hey, mike. >> welcome to november, the month when presidents are chosen. >> it is november. i had to pause to think about that. well, i'm glad you brought up presidents being chosen. we've got new nbc/"wall street journal"/marist polls to go through. let's get your take on these one by one. in wisconsin, the president with a three-point lead within the margin of error. he's tied there. that's down from a six-point edge. in new hampshire, president obama and mitt romney also in a tie. a month before the debate, the president had a seven-point lead there according to the poll. in iowa, romney ahead of the

president by six points, outside the margin of error, a slight drop from his eight-point lead earlier in october. and in pennsylvania, a state thought to be solidly for the president, a new college poll shows mitt romney behind just four points. what jumps out at you there, mike? >> well, two things. we see mitt romney continuing to close the gap. but we see the president ahead again and again. they're in the margin of error. the president is always ahead. but very little room to grow. republicans are saying that they don't believe these polls. willie, you're not old enough, but some people will remember the old accuracy and media bumper sticker, i don't believe the post, and i think republicans should get one that says i don't believe the poll. because they spend a lot of their time on conference calls talking to reporters, telling them that these polls don't reflect the reality that they're seeing. for instance, in ohio, neil newhouse, the romney pollster,

will say if we win independents, we win. so shethese polls are just clos enough that either side could be right. >> mark halperin, when you look at these polls, the president again has leads in all of these swing states. margin of error leads in some places. what do you see here? >> i'm going to take a risk and peel back the curtain to tell you what insiders are thinking. >> uh-oh. >> this is not my opinion, and this is not a projection of who's going to win. but insiders in both parties look at the last two days of swing state polls and say, the president may have this. doesn't mean he does, but that's what a lot of people in both parties are saying. republicans will cite some of the things mike just said, the polls are oversampling democrats, that romney's doing better with independents than he is in the polls in general. that how could the national polls, some of which show romney ahead or even be so different than the swing state polls. and there are other polls in these swing states that show romney closer or ahead. right now there's a danger for governor romney, that elites are starting to think in the last 24

hours that these leads are, as the obama campaign has said for a long time, small but persistent and consistent. and i think they do not affect the coverage that much, but there's a bit of a tipping point. here. romney needs to go into the weekend for his own sake with the race tied in the conventional wisdom rather than what some people are now saying that these polls suggest that the president will win this with the electoral college dominance that he's had. >> these polls are pre-sandy? >> yes. >> obviously you factor that in. >> mike, is that consistent with what you're hearing including republican elites suggesting that -- some republican elites suggesting that president obama is inching ahead here? >> it is. and you're already hearing republicans hint that if mitt romney loses, that he'll blame the storm. the people around him will cite that as a cause, that they had momentum. but it stopped cold. and i can tell you that here in washington, those elites that mark halperin is talking about, when they see this

expand-the-map effort by republican campaign by republican super pacs, minnesota, pennsylvania, michigan, what they don't see is confidence. what they see is an effort to conjure a momentum narrative, to keep that going. i think we're going to see the romney campaign double down even more on that. but more out of confidence, it comes from trepidation about ohio. republican elites starting to ask, are those really a series of hail marys because they think ohio isn't in the cards. >> i'm hearing the same thing. same strategy as far as let's look like we're really going and it was a desperation move. >> and there are so undecideds at this point, fife days out. is it too much to say that the cake is baked? i'm not saying either way, but that the race has been decided and we just don't know yet? >> i think there is a late break of a couple of points. it is a couple of points race. but if you combine the ohio numbers with what we're seeing out of iowa, it's just extremely

hard. mitt romney needs everything if he loses ohio. you know, i'm sure he'll pick up one or two of these battleground states, but he needs to sweep them all if he's down in ohio. you know, again, when you look at what we've seen, what's going to get those undecided voters to break at the end? chris christie has been a human wrecking ball to some of the key parts of mitt romney and the republican argument against this president. the president is incompetent, well, that's not what chris christie said. he's a polarizing figure. cannot work with republicans, cannot deliver on his promise of uniting the country. those kind of arguments are very powerful for that tiny, tiny sliver who aren't tuned into politics, don't much care for it but may still take part. >> i think their argument about incompetence has been it's just the wrong argument to make. you can disagree with the direction that the country's being taken in, but the fact that they've worked so hard to declare him incompetent or to say that the past four years have been a complete disaster, a

complete failure and then to see the president right now, as you described him, and i would leave chris christie out of it, actually. i really feel like the media shouldn't do this either. just be better at understanding that when both sides actually work together and need to, that that should not be news. at some point, you would hope it wouldn't be news. >> to which republicans would say yes, the president's done a good job the last three days, but that doesn't excuse the last four years. >> on the direction he's taken the country in on a philosophical level and everything. there's arguments here. there's a real clear argument between two candidates. but they've been underlining -- >> five days before the election, you're actually seeing him do his job. >> mike allen with a look inside the "politico playbook." mike, thanks so much. >> real quick, what gives republicans chill, any given poll can be wrong, but recent elections have shown us every poll isn't wrong. >> that's right. mike allen, thanks so much, mike. it's one of the countless

tragedies from hurricane sandy. the queens neighborhood absolutely wiped out by a raging fire. up next, we'll have a report on how breezy point is doing today. [ male announcer ] can a car be built around a state of mind? ♪ announcing the all-new 2013 malibu from chevrolet. ♪ with a remarkable new interior featuring the available chevrolet mylink infotainment system. this is where sophisticated styling begins. and where it ends? that's up to you. it's here -- the greatest malibu ever. ♪ reminds me of our network before cdw virtualized it. how? cdw and hp networking implemented a virtual

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hurricane sandy impacted millions of people along the

east coast but none harder hit than people in the tiny community of breezy point in queens where a fire burned down over 100 homes. yesterday residents returned to survey the damage. nbc's rehema ellis has that story. >> looks like a war zone. >> reporter: like so many families here, patty cook fought back tears, looking at what was once her home. >> i bought this in bermuda in 1974 on my honeymoon. >> reporter: 111 homes were destroyed when hurricane sandy struck. fire that grew with 75-mile-an-hour winds and emergency crews kept away by floodwaters. >> take care. >> reporter: new york's governor toured the area. >> the tragedy is obvious. it's amazing that there were no fatalities. >> reporter: rescue workers spent the day going door to door. >> continuing to search from building to building to make sure that there is nobody in them. >> reporter: firefighters are the foundation of this beachfront community, established in the early 1900s

and tested by tragedy before. it lost dozens of first responders in the september 11th attacks. and just two months later, a passenger jet slammed into homes in neighboring bell harbor. >> i thought the worst thing in the world was 9/11. a lost a lot of good friends and family and four years ago i lost my wife to cancer. now what do we got? >> all shells here. >> reporter: david and regina hagerty met when they were teenagers and raised their five sons here. like many others, they're determined to rebuild the community they love. >> you might even see tents here this summer. >> yep. >> that's how the community started. >> the community started that way. >> that was nbc's rehema ellis reporting. that story is staggering. i was channel surfing last night, and i caught the cbs report on this. these ladies ran from house to house. they thought, okay, we'll go to this house. and that one started burning. and then to the next house. and that one started burning. they ended up finally in a church way far away from it.

>> it's heartbreaking. >> unbelievable. >> i won't call this a silver lining, but when you see people like that last couple that said we're going to put a tent up here. obviously, it is horrific, but time and time again we see people, americans, and without sounding corny, the strength that people have. we're building tents. >> that's where we will live. that's got to be hard. >> that's a cruelty. the guys who are out saving the rest of us, meanwhile their homes are burning down. i said this yesterday. a friend of mine told me these firefighters couldn't get close enough to fight it because of the storm surge. they're literally watching their own homes burn down. and they couldn't get to it as it jumped home to home. >> what a story. that's just absolutely staggering. we'll be right back. much more here on "morning joe" including the "must-read opinion pages." [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

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all right. it's time now for the "must-read opinion pages." i've got one on sort of both sides of the presidential aisle here. "washington post." this is, like, scathing. from george will. obama's empty noise. there's so many incredible adjectives in this. will writes this. "energetic and bodied but indolent in mind, obama in his frenetic campaigning for a second term is promising to replicate his first term, although simply apologizing would be appropriate. his long campaign's tone, s abo mitt romney as a monster of, at least, callous indifference. >> if you're a writer, don't you have an obligation to use words people mean? >> he assumes people do. adolescent japes about romnesia is discordant coming from someone who has favorably compared his achievements to

those of any president since lincoln would the possible exceptions of lincoln, lbj and fdr. his oceanic self-esteem, no deficit there, he smolders with resentment that he must actually ask for a second term. >> an orgy of words. >> fantastic. i should have my daughter read it. she's getting ready for the s.a.t. katty kay, take it away. >> george will feeling in flowery form there. >> is there a point there? >> one, he seems to be saying that president obama has a character issue that he doesn't like, that there's a certain arrogance there, that he doesn't feel that he has to actually go out and campaign. and we saw that in the first debate. we saw some of that to get involved in the politics in the first debate. if you ask people around washington, one of the character flaws that they will point to about barack obama is that there is a certain distance and a certain arrogance. but i think the first point that

he makes that the president hasn't done anything, i just don't think that's true. it's very hard to look at this president's record and say that he's done nothing. first of all, there was health care reform. you may not have liked it, but there was certainly a reshuffling of the american social safety net. there was the auto bailout. there was the post -- the 2008 crash. there was a huge amount done by the administration to stop us actually falling off the cliff including the stimulus bill. so say that he hasn't done anything is patently not true. he's done a lot. >> there's that. and again, i think this is the challenge, richard wolffe, for the romney campaign. because they can't really portray him as ineffective. when a state like ohio and all of its electoral votes has seen a recovery. >> right. that's all they're doing. >> i think the problem is now you have a president being presidential during a crisis

while they're trying to claim he's ineffective. and it's literally they're running up against each other, because he has accomplished. they may not agree with them. >> right. and they're trying to run against what people have experienced about the economy. you can make all sorts of arguments about how people feel, where the economy is really going, but they know what their pocketbook is saying. and in ohio where the economy has been that much better than the national numbers, it translates into better positions for the incumbent. you know, that's why you end up with these ridiculous ads that suggest that the automakers are, in fact, doing something which they're not. and that's when you end up running ens against the compani who are employing the voters you're trying to win over. >> the column leads me to think about something which is in a few days we might have a re-elected barack obama. there's a good chance of that. the people on the right who represent the voice of tens of millions of americans who are going to be freaked out if they have to deal with four more

years of the president, people like george will will have to decide what to do in their columns if the president wins. if they continue to say he's a failed president and denounce him or think about the country for the next four years? because they are going to be freaked out if the president wins. >> the last ten presidents, if i said give me four bullet points about their presidency, and i don't think you could find it would match saved an entire industry. rewrote health care, whether you liked it or not, killed the terrorist of our times, i mean, those are prolific bullet points. if you go president by president, bill clinton, the most effective president of our adult life, give me three bullet points of his office. >> peace and prosperity. >> no, no, but specific bullet points. >> well, booming economy and welfare reform and deficit reduction. >> okay. once again, not as even targeted in their own way where you can literally say i saved the auto industry. i killed the villain other than

adolf hitler, probably the most renowned villain in history over the last 50 or 100 years. and once again, probably the most important, whether you like it or not, piece of legislation over the last 50 years, these are stunning points. >> you need to have lunch with george will. >> he's way too smart. by the way, i would just -- what does jape mean, by the way? >> and billious. >> callous. >> "the new york times." it's all up to ohio. it's been all up to ohio for months now. on wednesday a new cbs poll showed obama leading romney by five points in the buckeye state. in response, romney officials began to suggest maybe it was really all about pennsylvania. nobody took them seriously. mitt is bringing half the republican party to ohio on friday to kick off the new romney/ryan real recovery road rally. everybody's coming. and the sons, paul ryan, paul ryan's wife who we have yet to

actually meet, rudy giuliani, a couple olympic medalists, every elected official except he who must not be named in new jersey. sudden plans for a road trip are usually the sign of a pressing need to escape reality. >> is meatloaf going to be there? >> as long as he brings those pipes. >> all right. they should bring chris. this chris christie thing, is it really a big problem for mitt romney? why can't he now campaign with chris christie and be proud of it? >> it is a brig problem. >> i don't get it. that's a problem. that's the problem. >> literally, you have that image of them going like this. >> so what? they need to get over it. up next, the tale of two cities. a line of demarcation separates the manhattan with power from the manhattan completely in the dark. jon stewart offers his take on a divided new york. "morning joe" back in just a moment. okay, that

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well, it has been a tale of two cities as donny's been talking about this morning here in manhattan. you've had electricity north of about 39th street, call it. south, none at all. it's a completely different

story. if you live uptown, you don't even recognize what's happening just a few blocks south of you. last night jon stewart and "the daily show" with their take on that divide. >> millions tonight still without power and water. thousands displaced from their homes. here in manhattan, the power is still out downtown or as we refer to it now, little north korea. for more on the city and the aftereffects of hurricane sandy, we go out to al magical. we're going to start downtown with al magical. what's the scene like downtown, al? >> reporter: john, downtown still devastated. many tunnels filled with seawater, grocery stored emptied and there's been no electricity since the substation exploded just around up there on 14th street. >> al, what is that strapped to your back, al? >> oh, yeah. it's a machete, jon. see, there's two types of folks still down here in no juicetown.

people with machetes and dead people without machetes. >> all right, al, we'll come back to you. we're going to go uptown to john oliver. what are things like up there? >> what al was describing, jon, it's a total hellscape up here. for starters, i don't want to call it a panic. serendipity has run out of mocha sprinkles. which begs the question, jon, where the [ bleep ] is fema when you need them? >> the horror. >> that's pretty funny. >> it's pretty good. did you see this clip? it was shooting around the web yesterday. a little girl, 4-year-old in colorado named abigail evans. >> yeah. >> literally driven to tears. >> uh-oh. >> because she's heard so much about this election. too much about this election. she was listening on the way to the grocery store with her mother to an npr report about the never-ending race for president. here she is when they arrived at the grocery store. >> i'm tired -- i'm tired of

barack obama and mitt romney. >> that's why you're crying? oh. it will be over soon, abby. okay? the election will be over soon, okay? >> okay. >> oh. >> she's tired of hearing about barack obama and mitt romney. >> i think she thinks for everybody. abigail for president. >> npr, good-naturedly offered her an apology. just a few days left, abigail. >> all those people making the ads. >> the local npr visited her there in colorado. >> oh, good. >> i should point out, she's smiling again. there she is. >> my 5-year-old can't get enough of it. >> really? >> c-span 24/7. >> the quinnipiac poll. when we come back -- >> they should send a present, don't you think, willie? >> sure. >> lots of them. >> we should send a present. >> speaking of presents, the reverend al sharpton.

>> also ezra klein. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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♪ come on up for the rising governor christie, throughout this process, has been responsive. he's been aggressive in making sure that the state got out in front of this incredible storm. and i think the people of new jersey recognize that he has put his heart and soul into making sure that the people of new jersey bounce back even stronger than before. so i just want to thank him for

his extraordinary leadership and partnership. >> top of the hour. a live look at national airport in washington, d.c. welcome back to "morning joe." joining us now, we have the host of "politics nation" and president of the national action network, reverend al sharpton. good to have you on board. >> good morning. >> mark halperin still with us. all right. let's get a recap, at the top of the hour, as to where we stand. there are obviously politics related to the storm, but the storm is still wreaking havoc. a small step in a return to normalcy this morning, the first subway trains left penn state earlier today. people started lining up an hour before it was set to depart. it was the first train to operate since sunday evening. the east river flooded seven subway tunnels in new york city, filling stations with several feet of water. the loss of subway service sent commuters scrambling for city buses which were packed to capacity. after heavy flooding on the runways, limited flights are

also expecting to resume this hour at laguardia airport. governor cuomo has declared a transportation emergency, suspending fares on all mass transit. but as more systems come back online, a grim reality remains. this morning, the death toll as a result of sandy now stands at 72. according to the associated press. there are some terrible -- just incredible stories of survival but also of how people lost their lives in this storm. some of them doing what they were supposed to be doing to try and get away from it. 5.6 million homes and businesses along the eastern seaboard are still without electricity. bellevue hospital, new york city's top trauma center, is now shut down. last night the hospital safely evacuated its remaining 300 patients after fuel pumps to the backup generators failed. it followed two days of round-the-clock work to keep the power running.

at one point, take a look at this, employees made a 14-floor human chain to get buckets of fuel up the stairs to the generators. but with major flooding still in the basement, officials say it could be two or three weeks at least before bellevue is anywhere close to normal. directly across the river from manhattan in hoboken, new jersey, a desperate situation. about 151,000 people are without power in and around the area. electricity there may not come back for as many as ten days. residents are being told to stay out of the standing water because it's filthy. it's riddled with sewage and oil leaks and garbage. the national guard has been bringing in food and supplies and ferrying stranded residents to dry land. but still the situation in hoboken is horrible. and the list continues. the stories of people suffering, of people not able to get medical care, of people who were not as prepared as they should have been, whatever the story,

there's a lot out there, and it's going to be many weeks and days before lives are even close to back to normal or even returning to normal which brings us now to the politics of this. reverend al, we've been talking the past hour about the president's visit to new jersey. we were talking yesterday about his limited impact in terms of new york city and whether or not he would come here. the president is out in the field doing what a president should do. and there's a lot of talk about his interactions with chris christie. do you see a story there, or do you see that's just something that partisans have to talk about, and media is just drumming up? >> i think it's both. i think that it's partisans talk about it, but i think it is a story. i think the reality is that if we look at the long-term impact, many of us have been talking about the need for infrastructure development to create jobs. people on the right have said oh, you just want to create another program to give people. i think that when you look at

the structural problems in new york, new jersey, it shows, we need an infrastructure development from the government that will also provide jobs, but we are in structural problems. there's no reason we should be in this kind of shape. secondly, i think when you look at the politics of it, i think that it's not only something that gives a good picture to the president who deserves it, if he's managed well, and he has, but governor christie who's in a blue state, he was not shy to take a lot of bows. and i noticed that it was choreographed when he was the major new jersey figure, which should be the governor. so the politics of it, i think, worked for both of them. and both of them probably deserved it. >> see, i don't know what those questions were -- in fact, alex can you pull the sound bite of chris christie getting a little bit defensive, i guess, about this all? because it seemed to me that those are two people doing what they are supposed to do.

one on the left, one on the right, doesn't really matter, they're both doing what they're supposed to do, but yet at a time when new jersey is suffering its biggest crisis in probably decades and most of our lifetimes, he's getting a question that has him saying this? take a listen. >> and the president of the united states and i have now had six conversations since sunday. that shows to me a level of caring and concern and interest that i think a leadership should be given to this type of situation. this was as comfortable and relaxing an interaction as i've had with the president since i've known him. and i think it's because we're both doing what we want to do, which is to get things done. there will be some folks who will criticize me for complimenting him. well, you know what? i speak the truth. that's what i always do. sometimes you guys like it. sometimes you don't. sometimes politicians like it. sometimes they don't. but i say what i feel and what i believe. and i'm just doing the same thing with the president of the united states. so i did pinch myself every day. you know, like when i got on

marine one, i'm pinching myself, believe me, you know. sandy and bill christie's son on marine one was not exactly what i thought was going to be happening with my life. >> richard wolffe and take it to katty kay. what's the question there? why is there something to see here? >> right. well, look. these are extraordinary times. >> the question he was getting. >> he's constantly getting questions about -- >> really? in the middle of this? >> that's my point. we need to know that question because if he was answering a question about, you know, is this a concern of yours politically, that's one thing. if that was a proactive statement on his part, then he is really politicizing it. >> mika? >> richard, then katty. >> two extraordinary things. apart from the spirit here. one, i'm someone who tells the truth. he's honest. that's really important. secondly, the respect for the presidency, when someone like chris christie says, i have to pinch myself for getting on marine one, it reminds everyone, that's what real people think. and we've lost that sense in our

politics. i mean, katty, we both grew up in a country where maybe deference to executive power is somewhat less, but i don't know. i'd be interested to know what you think. was his attitude towards the presidency different from what we've heard in politics recently? >> i think that this is -- the fact that chris christie has to go on television and defend doing his job and cooperating with the president in a different party is a terrible indictment of the state of american politics, right? and it almost doesn't matter what the question was. he had to go out there and feel -- it wasn't an apology, but it was a defense of crossing the aisle. and the fact that he has to do that in this kind of situation in order to get his job done shows you all you need to know about where american politics is. >> i think the question does have something to do -- katty, obviously, he's done a spectacular job, and it's great seeing what's happening, but to me, if he wasn't asked that question, he doesn't have to say

that. just do your job. and there is a distinction. i think the question is important there. >> that's a distinction of insider politics. but i think there's a broader point here about that he is having to say, you know, some people don't like the fact that i have crossed the aisle and worked with the president who's from a different party nin orde to get my job done. and the key is going to be what happens after this election, whether the spirit of cooperation you saw between chris christie and barack obama, which is exactly the spirit of cooperation that america needs right now, can that be reinstated and continued after the election? >> apparently the question was whether he felt awkward with the president given his active support for mitt romney. >> completely appropriate. right on the money. >> why would you feel awkward -- why would you feel awkward doing your job? >> i think that one could raise the question, this is how ugly and disrespectful --

>> the climate is. >> -- of the office of the president has been in the last several months. let's not act like this happens in isolation. they have done everything to disrespect this president as president. and i think it's in that climate, the question was asked -- and i think that christie had to answer it. it's not like they have respected this president. >> right. >> as president. and i feel that the president was acting as president, but they have some members of the christie party have done everything but behave like he was president. >> mark halperin. >> here's two reasons republicans are worried about this. number one, politicians don't like uncertainty. there's a lot of uncertainty on the republican side, how big a deal will this be? the coverage of this storm's going to carry all the way through election day in the national press. and the president has hit every mark, on substance and on stagecraft, he's hit every mark. so he's going to blot out a lot of the effort of republicans the message. the other thing is, what was mitt romney's closing argument? i can work across the aisle. this president has a four-year

record of failure. doesn't know how to work with the other side. the symbolism of, with chris christie, working across the aisle, getting things done, it goes right to the heart of how mitt romney wanted to close this election. >> again, i mean, look. i probably have -- i know that i'm probably wrong here in terms of the political impact, but i don't understand why you can't stand with the president when, at a time of crisis, and say this is not -- and for mitt romney to really just go there and say, he's doing a good job on this. why not? >> you've got to remember, governors get covered by political reporters. >> well, we're going -- okay, we'll quick, because one of the reasons why this is such a big story is because new jersey has been -- let me go there through -- new jersey has absolutely been gutted along the coastline and rewritten. nbc's danielle leigh in toms river. give us the latest. >> reporter: good morning, mika. many of those popular summertime

communities, places like seaside heights still completely cut off from society. officials say it's just not safe to go there. when you walk around toms river, evidence of the damage, pieces of homes, furniture, just laying around, people's lives ripped apart. the damage is severe. we're talking about streets impassable, homes leveled. and already today the cleanup effort is under way trying to get those communities back to an area where people can actually go in and start to survey the damage, also trying to get power back on to people. it is cold out here, and people have now been without power for four days. and i've got to tell you, for many of those people who were evacuated from the jersey shore who have nowhere to go, that recovery could not come quickly enough. they are really hanging on to president obama's promises to expedite this recovery and giving the resources to them so their communities can get up and running again. mika and willie? >> danielle leigh, thanks very much. that is exactly what we're talking about here. do you think those people -- and you think people who know those people who live elsewhere could give a damn about mitt romney

versus president obama and what chris christie's impact is on getting along with president obama. a lunch of idiots. and quite frankly, the question seems stupid. no offense, but it's really not the time to try and divide and, you know, rable rourabblerouse media. it shouldn't stand for anything but two people doing their jobs. >> these are not democrats or republicans caught in the eye of this. there is a real debate about how governments should respond in crisis. we saw it four years ago. the financial markets collapsed. the auto industry collapsed. >> right. >> what do you do? as a republican president, president bush, man who advocated for free markets the whole way through, had to say, we've got to throw a mountain of cash at this problem. even though it went against every grain of his political philosophy, you know, at times of crisis, real leaders have to take things or don't do things that are inconsistent with their

ideology. they have to cross lines that they wouldn't otherwise do. and that's what we're seeing with chris christie and president obama right now. that goes beyond campaigning, but it's something that we as political insiders often say, well, look. these are unpopular decisions. you're going to have problems in your party. it doesn't matter. in a time of crisis, there's nothing else but government leaders who can step in and do something here. whether it's the financial markets, the auto industry or a natural disaster. >> reverend. >> i think he's absolutely right. and let's not make this one-sided. yes, christie will get some backlash from the right, but there are a lot of democrats in new jersey that do not like to see christie in a good light. and i don't think any of them are attacking because christie's doing what governors are supposed to do. we would be attacking him if he didn't do that. so i think both of them deserve credit for doing what they should be doing. >> inbounds or out of bounds, for the super pac to make an ad the last few days featuring the

president with chris christie. >> out of bounds. >> stand by. >> i think they'll do it. >> i would love at some point later in the show also to show a romney clip where he talked about -- he pivoted quickly, talked about disaster, and it didn't have the heart and soul that christie has. and i'm not saying he's not a feeling man or barack obama is. i want to play that tape again in the words he uses. you didn't see it here the way you're seeing in those tother to guys. >> i think he needs to stand with the president. >> he said a few words and then he pivoted, but it was like a guy saying the words and not feeling the words. >> yeah, yeah. >> i want to watch that tape. >> katty kay, thank you so much. great to have you on board this morning. reverend al, stay if you can, a few minutes. still ahead, we're going to dig into the polls with nbc news political director chuck todd. "the washington post's" ezra klein. also ahead, "time" magazine releasing three new covers this week. how do they do that? how does that happen?

>> one magazine isn't enough? >> rick stengel is just a wild man. >> hello? we're going to get an exclusive first, second and third look with managing editor rick stengel. but first, here's bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill. >> mika, you've got to see these pictures. i'm going to give a little traffic report. mayor bloomberg said yesterday people coming into new york city this morning have to have at least three people in the car. these are pictures coming from a helicopter above yonkers. the police have checkpoints making sure that everyone has three people getting into the city. if you don't, they're taking you and putting you onto the off-ramp. this line goes back for miles and miles outside of new york city as they make sure every vehicle coming into the five boroughs has at least three people in it. unbelievable and crazy. there's many people that will be two and three hours late trying to get into the city to get to work today. other areas with the power problem. we are watching about, i'd say, roughly 7 million to 8 million people without power. still temperatures in the 40s overnight. very cold and chilly air in

place. it's not making it comfortable for anyone trying to stay in their homes. the storm itself is exiting up into canada, thankfully. weather will slowly improve during the day. it's still rainy, though, western new york and areas around pittsburgh. we've had a little snow in the mountains outside of pittsburgh. so your forecast for the day today, sandy still leaves a deep chill in the northeast and mid-atlantic. the rest of the country looks nice this november 1st. the only exception being people olt west coast. rainy in san francisco. and on and off rain in seattle. once again, the big story this morning, sandy's impact, the lack of gas and now people trying to travel to get to work. as the shock pulls out, that's the checkpoint in the middle suspect. and that line to the north trying to get into the city, trust me, i saw it, it goes for miles. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

21 past the hour. a live look at the white house. the sun has yet to come up over washington. joining us now from the white house, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. also columnist for "the washington post" and msnbc policy analyst, ezra klein. good to have you both on board this morning. chuck, let's start with the new nbc/"wall street journal" poll. the president has a three-point lead within the margin of error. that's down from a six. point edge just two weeks ago. you want to stop there, or should i go on with new hampshire? >> reporter: go ahead and do all three. >> let's go to new hampshire. president obama, mitt romney also statistical high a month ago before the debate, the president held a seven-point lead there. and let's take one look at iowa. the president is ahead of romney by six points. outside the margin of error, but a drop from his eight-point lead earlier in october, chuck. >> reporter: well, obviously, i think the one poll that sticks

out is iowa. and that's the poll that a lot of republicans disagree with. they believe the race is closer than that. the big disagreement, what we found in our survey, and i know others have found in the survey, and it really depends, some of it, on how much of the vote do you think happened early, how much didn't, but has to do with independents. because our party i.d. in our iowa sample is dead even. 39%-39%, democrats to republicans. but we have the president winning among nonaffiliated voters. they're not independents in iowa. they call them no party. or not affiliated voters. and particularly on the early vote. and that is this whole organizational game, right? and in iowa, in particular, independents in iowa are a different breed, if you will, than independents in a lot of these other battleground states. but that's sort of the point of contention, if you will, in our survey versus what i think some republicans are arguing about where iowa is. >> so chuck, if you take the totality of the last two days of

polling and you try to identify for mitt romney, what is his most likely electoral college pass right now? >> reporter: it goes with peeling away some parts of the midwest. at least two of those three states. and mark, to me the most important numbers that came out today, if you will, is the president's final schedule. let me give you his last day. and i'll work backwards. his last day, wisconsin, ohio, iowa. four of the next five days, he will stop in ohio. he will make at least two stops in iowa. at least two stops in wisconsin. my point is this. we know where chicago thinks. they have to hold off romney. you know? they're basically only doing one stop in florida. they're going to hit new hampshire once. they're going to hit colorado twice. no north carolina, nevada once. but they believe they can lose colorado. they can lose florida, but their firewall is wisconsin, iowa and ohio. and that if they hold two of those three, then their path to

270 is doable, and romney becomes very steep. i think when you look at it, it's about wisconsin, then peeling that off. and they've got to figure out how to win -- how to get ohio. if iowa's not there, if neither iowa nor nevada are there, then you've got to either go get new hampshire for romney, if you will, combine it with wisconsin, but you still, i think, have to grab ohio. >> wow, okay. and right now ohio is probably where the romney campaign, we mentioned earlier, they're all headed there. they're doubling down. can they regain, keep that momentum going, chuck, or even ezra at this point when you're looking at ohio and campaign strategy, what at this point given the fact that the president is sort of in the middle of this news story and catastrophe, national disaster, how do they even compete? >> at this point, it's all

turnout is my view of the race. i don't think they're big game changers coming. i don't think there's huge campaign movement. i don't think a new speech in ohio or wisconsin or in iowa is going to change votes. they've put a lot of money, a lot of resources, a lot of time and also a lot of bodies on the ground both in the obama campaign and the romney campaign. both have put a lot of bodies on the ground in these swing states. it is a really technologically sophisticated architecture for turning voters out. and one thing we're about to see is whose architecture is better. they have not led in an ohio poll in quite a while. they have not led in any of these nbc swing state polls, there are 32 of them according to twitter this morning. if their turnout model's better than obama's which seems unlikely from what i've heard, but if it is, that could change things. otherwise it's hard to see campaigning or another ad is going to do. people have heard it all by now. >> chuck, it's donny. obviously, we're all living through sandy.

>> reporter: yes. >> you're in iowa or a wisconsin or an ohio swing voter, how does it play? >> reporter: you know, i think -- i'm guessing yesterday, seeing a roep aepublican and det working together. when you look at what i think has been a very effective closing message up until sandy happened, which was he was simply going to the -- wherever he was going, sometimes it was base counties that he was going to, but his messaging was all aimed at suburban women, in particular, talking about, you know what? we're going to break this gridlock. this is about working together. i've worked across the aisle. and then boom, here's a symbol of a republican and democrat working together. and it happens to be the president. so i think that the potential here, it's either neutral or helpful to the president. i certainly don't see how it's a negative for the president when it comes to how sandy's been handled. having michael bloomberg, who has been very hesitant to jump into this presidential race other than to be negative about both the president and mitt

romney, had very high praise for the president, for fema. you look at it in that totality, it has the potential -- now, i think what will be interesting here is to see how does the president talk about sandy without looking ham-handed about it, without looking totally politically cynical about it. i think you're going to see -- obviously you're going to hear some mentions of it on the trail, but does he weave in sort of the larger narrative of what this is what government does. does it become a larger defensive argument over the next few days? it will be interesting to hear. >> one of the big disputes between the parties when it comes to polling is will the president's base be energized? african-americans, hispanics, young people and if the storm affects that at all? >> i think they are energized. i spent the weekend in florida doing early voting push. and the numbers there are at the level -- early voting numbers of '08. i've been in ohio. so i think this myth that there's not a lot of enthusiasm in the base is being exposed by the numbers.

the numbers don't lie. and i think they're going to be further energized by seeing how the president handles sandy and if the message gets out there, that's why we need jobs programs. that's why we need infrastructure. i'm going to keep hitting that. you cannot look at the structural decay in new jersey, connecticut, new york and not say, those are not opportunities also to create jobs, and we need infrastructure development. >> a lack of preparedness. >> absolutely. >> the newspaper report we read about the fact that there were cities that just hadn't done what needed to be done for storm preps. it would have been probably been in a different situation than we are today, richard wolffe. >> i've got a question for ezra. ezra, as you look at the numbers, is there something in there that concerns you not just about the head-to-head, the underlying policy argument -- mitt romney has made some ground. whether you believe his ads are truthful or not, hasn't he made some ground on the economic argument at the heart of this campaign? >> the race has tightened

completely. it's hard sometimes to look at polls and understand what economic argument people think they're buying into. we've been doing on my site a very long series of interviews with voters in swing states. it's going to go up over the next couple days. and what has been most surprising to us is we have not completed an interview yet that didn't just contain incredible sort of howler about american public policy. we called a romney voter in florida. and he said the reason he was for romney was because he didn't want medicare to change at all at any point. and that barack obama, in the long term, would abolish medicare. we said, well, what do you think about the premium support plan? he said if we change medicare, we should keep it exactly the same. we called an obama voter. and she said, well, you know, what i really liked about the president is he's not going to raise taxes on anyone. and when you look in the internals in these polls, you're seeing a lot of trust in people. and romney's been working very hard to come up more moderate on economics and say, look, i don't have the tax plan, a lot of the

numbers appear that i have, and that is helping, but the specific policies people are voting for are -- they're intuitive intuitive. one thing we do in politics in washington is we say there's a clear and distinct agenda people are voting for. it's not happening from what we can tell. >> ezra klein, thank you very much. chuck todd, thank you as well. we'll see you on "the daily rundown," 9:00 eastern right after "morning joe." coming up, mitt romney's big what-if? could his campaign have done it differently? that's the question asked by "bloomberg's "josh green. "morning joe" is back in a moment. [ male announcer ] free windows 8 training from your son.

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none of this surprises me. hurricanes have a well-known liberal bias. first katrina tainted george bush's presidency. then isaac wiped out the first day of the republican national convention. now hurricane sandy. sandy, what kind of name is that? are you a dude storm or a lady storm? oh, big surprise. just when obama needs a boost, who shows up but a gender-ambiguous weather system, a category 5 bi-hurricane.

hey, don't get me wrong. i don't mind you being a meteorological event, but why must you be so flamboyant and in my face about it? no. i'm hurricane sandy. deal with me. >> oh, my gosh. up next, bill karins calls it the storm of a lifetime. for many living along the east coast as millions are still trying to recover from hurricane sandy. this week's "time" cover tackles the impact of the storm along with special election coverage. rick stengel is next to reveal the new issue. "morning joe" returns in just a moment. [ man ] ring ring... progresso

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♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] some day, your life will flash before your eyes. ♪ make it worth watching. ♪ the new 2013 lexus ls. an entirely new pursuit. 40 past the hour. are we seeing some sun in new york city? welcome back to "morning joe." joining us now, "time" magazine

managing editor rick stengel who's here to reveal the latest issue of "time" which is multilayered to say the least. >> we have, for the northeast, we have a cover about the storm. lessons from the storm by our environmental writer, brian walsh, which actually asserts -- and i know it's not a popular thing to say -- that there were aspects of the storm that were manmade in the sense that we're building the wrong way, our electrical grid is old-fashioned. our transportation infrastructure is from the last century. and there are things that we need to do about it. the rest of the country gets a political cover. the case for romney, the case for obama by two -- there it is -- by two different writers. it's a 50/50 run where half get it both for obama on the half and half for romney. there you go. a fantastic switch. e.j. dionne wrote about the president and rich lowrie from "national review" wrote the case

for romney. >> so this is "time" magazine being nimble. >> we're very nimble. we're reacting to this once-in-a-century storm that seems to now happen every couple of years that has affected all of us. and i think, again, for that, i'm quite keen on figuring out what it is that we need to do. and there are things that we're just not prepared for. and the u.s. is, you know, 20, 30 in the world in terms of infrastructure. we have a 19th and 20th century infrastructure to deal with 21st century events like this. and that is a tragedy. i mean, that's another one -- you know, so i'm segueing into a discussion about the election because that is the kind of things that the candidates should be talking about. nobody is talking about infrastructure. climate change wasn't even mentioned at any of the debates. these are vast, you know, historical issues that are not being addressed by either party. >> the politics cover, as you said, e.j. dionne makes the case for romney. rich lowrie for obama.

what are the cases they make? >> rich lowrie's case is interesting in that i think he makes the case that governor romney is actually a data-driven consultant. and that is, in fact, what we need in the presidency, someone who is not ideological, who is not necessarily beholden to anybody, not that he wouldn't be beholden to people, but what we need is someone who will cut past the ideological divisions and deal with the reality of things that they are. >> i've never heard a leader described as data-driven consultant. that's antithetical to leadership. >> you're really suggesting that being data driven is antithetical to leadership? >> if you were going to describe the three top qualities of a leader, data driven versus ideological. >> data driven is just another way of saying pragmatic. >> but i think that when you're dealing with the probably most renowned flip-flopper of modern

political history to say he's data driven is a stretch. the facts are the facts. this guy's facts change by the hour. >> i would argue that flip-flopping is often a reaction to reality. i've been trying for 25 years to get a candidate to say, a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds said by emerson. i wish a candidate would say, when circumstances change, i change my mind. what do you do? >> i think the circumstances change is a stretch. >> now, reverend al, ideological. >> running for governor of massachusetts and another point the circumstances were he was trying to win the presidency. >> that's pragmatic. >> primaries and another point he's in the general. >> at one point he wants to destroy fema -- >> joe wrote a column about this. i mean, he has certain qualities to him that do pose some hope. >> can we please show that tape at some point about him talking about the tragedy of sandy.

>> alex, will you get donny to stop asking for the tape of mitt romney? do we have it? >> empathy that you would say is a quality of leadership. >> sure. >> we're looking at in the wake of the storm who showed the most empathy? obviously from the beginning of the campaign, obama has scored much better in all of the polls of do you understand people like me? and in the wake of a storm, that is significant. >> so here's mitt romney. >> watch the human being here. i'm serious. watch this. >> here's mitt romney talking about the hurricane. take a listen. >> we come together in times like this, and we want to make sure that they have a speedy and quick recovery from their financial and in many cases personal loss. now, people coming together is what's also going to happen, i believe, on november 7th. >> there's your data-driven

candidate. that was not here. i'm sorry. i'm just watching the tape. >> this is sometimes why -- >> am i seeing something? help me out here. >> you're right. >> i'm sorry. >> you have a community organizer running against a zillionaire. >> we've devolved. >> if mitt romney wins, are you prepared to bring the country together and give him a chance? >> right to 1600 pennsylvania. >> i know joe is going to grow a mustache. >> yes. >> if the president -- is it minnesota and wisconsin? i'm going to grow a goatee which is going to be so offensive to the eyes if romney wins this election. >> by the way, there's also a great story in there that we did with pro publica and how it's affecting local races, senate

races which by the way is not really on our radar because we're not looking at that, but it's pouring money into these small races by dark-money groups that we don't know who's actually doing that. >> speaking of empathy, very quickly, if you show the tape of obama during the bp crisis versus now, you real a real growth in the presidency. >> yesterday that bet that david axelrod made with joe, he then, shaving his mustache, he wrote me, "tell joe he should think about a handlebar. i think it would be very cool. thanks for having me on." and i wrote, "i'll tell him." "i want to inspect my winnings." and i said "gross!" and he goes, "sorry, my friend, it's going to get hairy over there." okay. that is confidence from the obama campaign. >> yeah. >> rick stengel, thank you. the new issue of "time" is on newsstanded now. reverend al, thank you as well. see you tonight at 6:00 on "politics nation." up next, grammy award winner

lyle lovett will talk about one of his latest roles, one that doesn't involve music. we'll be right back. you're watching "morning joe." ♪ these are... [ male announcer ] marie callender's puts everything you've grown to love about sunday dinner into each of her pot pies.

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lyle lovett, known for his music, but nobody finds entertainment like tivo. welcome back to morning joe. a drama tie zags of six death row inmates who were set free after being proved innocent. it's featuring a rotating powerhouse cast. we recently sat down with two of the actors in the play. country singer lyle lovett and we asked them what it was to be part of this. >> i got a call to be part of it

and the first production was ten years ago. i got to do it in 2004 in ft. worth when they toured with it and he called and said, i read it and it was amazing and then on top of that, the chance to get to walk with the great actors is hard to resist. >> delroy, talk about why this is such an important play. >> i did the film back in 2005 and it's another dimension of giving the voice to not only the six individuals whose stories are depicted in the play but the whole question of death row and the death debate and the people in that position who aren't found to be innocent. it's extremely important. >> that's where the new evidence, dna evidence.

a lot of things have changed even over the past ten years and also isn't it fascinating even when you did your film, this is a conservative liberal issue. i've seen pat robinson coming out talking about concerns with the death penalty. a lot of conservatives now are having similar concerns about death row and whether we're executing innocent men. >> that's right. and women. >> and women. >> one of the things that is most gratifying about being a part of something like, this aside from getting to meet people like lyle and the wonderful actors that come through, i've come from a generation of actors who thought that they could change the world and while i have modified that point of view over the years, however, pieces like this are incredibly important in terms of changing people' thought process on a given issue and there's nothing more interesting than this issue. >> i'd be interested to hear

from both of you on this but, lyle, you play a man who is wrongly accused of murder. what is the psychology of a man sitting in death row who knows he didn't do this. i'm sure it beginses with anger but what's the range of emotions? >> the character i play is gary and he was on death row and he seemed -- from reading his words, he seemed resigned to it yet determined -- determined in his innocence and determined to try to show that he was innocent and, sure enough, his sister found an attorney in illinois named gary marshall who took on his case and they were able to prove that someone else had committed the crime. he was accused of having killed his parents. >> delroy, it seems like you'd

be shaking the bars, yelling at the world. how does your character handle it? >> i've got to tell you something about anger because you mentioned something about anger. yes, there's probably a healthy portion of anger but i met delbert and david keith ton who is another character in the play and anger is not the predominating dynamic. the thing -- one of the things that most impressed all of the exonorees is they have incredible grace. they are not victim. they don't see themselves as victim. and for whatever anger they have gone through, they have come out the other side of it and they are all very, very gracious and settled human beings and that's extraordinary and it's an extraordinary lesson in terms of playing a character like this because anger is certainly a part of it it but it is not the

predominating emotion. >> obviously the issue has very polar open sits points of view about it. people have very strong opinions. is this perhaps an attempt to challenge people's opinions or what? >> yes, i think it -- i'm not sure that the writers would say a challenge but it does challenge. it challenges the death penalty. it challenge the legitimacy of the death penalty and you can't help but be compelled to rethink your position when you hear stories as compelling as the six stories in this play. and you also understand these are six individuals. there are hundreds -- i don't know how many people are on death penalty right now but i would wage a significant portion might very well be innocent. so we have to, as a society, as ourselves the question, are we comfortable with the possibility

of even putting one possibly innocent person to death? >> you can see "the exonerate " >> thank you. >> stay with us. much more "morning joe" when we come back. >> announcer: delroy lindo has played characters on both side of the law from "get shorty" to "gone in 60 seconds" and if you have tivo premier, you can watch all of delroy's movies at a moment's notice. put it all at your finger tips, brought to you by tivo. jack, you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada...

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we're going to help you get it all together. okay? i promise. i promise. you're going to be okay. i've got my guy craig fugate right here. this is the owner of the marina and i want her to know that

we're going to immediately make sure she gets the help she needs. >> thank you. >> good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 on the west coast. if you take a live look at new york city. welcome back to "morning joe." joining me is mark halperin, donny deutsch. a lot to get to in terms of the aftermath of the storm. that's my sweater. yep. we're not put together this morning. the death poll is rising this morning. a couple of new facts to bring to you. been watching the coverage now for three days straight. everybody's exhausted. breezy point, my god, that story i was seeing michelle miller's report on cbs, hr second one. it is just amazing what has happened there. we're also five days away from a presidential election and there are some literally logistical issues with that.

but bill karins was catching this morning and said something that rang true. three days after the disaster is when the novelty wears off and it really starts to hurt. bill? >> yes. i've been going through this for the last 15 years of my career. this is the end of the glow. everyone's all together, everyone -- it's a novelty. you're getting through it. if you did the approval ratings of all of the governors in the affected areas, it would be sky high. but this is it. the anger and frustration begins to build once you get to day 3 and day 4, all of the food in your house is gone. the gasoline crisis is going to continue. your generator, if you have one, you can't even get gas for it. it's cold out, too. you have to find somewhere to live and then the cruelty of who gets power when. maybe your neighbor gets it. of course, the hospitals, police, firestations and then some neighborhoods get it and you don't. people want to take their anger out on some one and it ends up

being the politicians. this is it. all of the positive stuff on the beach, the handshaking and hugs and it's all great and everyone feels really well and so far people are riding high and getting through what they have to do. but day after day it begins to take its toll and you're going to hear the complaining getting louder and louder and they are still saying ten days before you get power. the more rural you are, you're usually the last ones to get power, too. it all sounds very positive what we're reporting on right now but it's still a lot of hardship and the worst is yet to come for people who don't have electricity. >> bill karins, we'll be getting more updates. now let's get to what he was talking about this morning. as a result of sandy, we have a death toll of 72 at this point, according to the associated press. 5.6 million homes and businesses along the eastern seaboard are still without electricity. they can't make any money and

they can't really live there. new york city, while half of manhattan remains powerle, the travel situation is getting back into motion. limited subways have reopened. governor cuomo has declared an emergency. flights are resuming at laguardia airport. bellevue hospital, the top trauma center, is shut down. they last evacuated their last 300 patients after a fuel pump failed. at one point, employees had a 14-floor human chain to get buckets of fuel up to the generators. but with major flooding still in the basements, it could be two or three weeks at least before bellevue is anywhere close to

normal. directly across the river in hoboken, new jersey, a nightmare. 151,000 people are without power in and around the area. electricity may not come back for as many as ten days. residents are being told to stay out of the standing water because it's dangerous. sewage and oil leaks all mucking up the water. the national guard has been bringing in food and supplies and ferrying residents to dry land. the mayor has been begging, begging for more supplies to come into hoboken. those cabs -- that's a shot from hoboken. so certainly no one is getting a cab there, willie. >> no. and the mayor has been pleading for help, bring supplies, if you can do anything. hoboken is one of the undertold stories. it's dire. >> i think there are many of those, actually. because when you look at the damage up and down the coastline -- which we'll get to

new jersey in just a moment, obviously the pike turs are taken of the most grave situations but people need things and it will affect their health. you can't get greensboros through streets like this, you can't get medical care to people. it's a situation that for many people will go from bad to worse and, of course, the federal reaction as well as the state reaction in terms of trying to help people all working together is going to be key and, of course, that is interlayed with politics. gasoline is now a precious commodity with cars backed up for miles at some gas stations, including some along the garden state parkway. yesterday president obama joined governor chris christie on the ground in atlantic city for an up close look at the destruction where the storm came ashore.

they also saw the damage by air. boarding the president's marine one helicopter. the governor thanked the president for pledging quick federal help. >> what i can promise you is that the federal government will be working as closely as possible with the state and local officials and we will not quit until this is done. we are not going to tolerate red tape, we are not going to tolerate bureacracy and i instituted a 15-minute rule essentially on my team. you return everybody's phone callses within 15 minutes, whether it's the mayor, governor, if they need something, we figure out a way to say yes. >> the president and i have had six kfrg conversations since

sunday. this was as comfortable and relaxed interaction that i've had with the president since i've known him and i think it's because we're both doing what we want to do, which is to get things done. some folks will criticize me for complimenting him. well, you know what, i speak the truth. that's what i always do. sometimes you guys like it, sometimes you don't. sometimes politicians like it, sometimes they don't. but i say what i feel and what i believe. and i'll just do the same thing with the president of the united states. i do pitch myself every day. you know, like when i got on marine one, i'm pitching myself, believe me. it's not what i thought would be happening with my life. >> donny, a lot of people want to read politics, whether it's the president being there with chris christie but this is -- these are two chief executives doing what has to be done in this situation. >> yeah. you know, it's so easy when we day after day land blast these guys. the overwhelming majority of guys who i believe in civil

service are doing just that. obviously it's very politically astute for christie but he's doing his -- he's doing it and you genuinely believe this guy is the kind of guy who wants to do right by his people. barack obama, you're seeing a human being there. and obviously will this sway the election? it leans a little clearly for obama. but what i love about this is what you see with these guys is the same that you see with the guys in hoboken that were affected. i believe people overwhelmingly are decent, including politicians. >> is it too cynical, richard, to read all of this? this is an analysis happening within the washington political bubble. but you're seeing chris christie doing what he needs to for his state and the president arriving in a disaster zone offering his consolation but also his help. >> that is true but it does have a political impact.

the politics in term of the impact after this, but one of the corrosive things about washington has been the pempl nenlt campaign. and we in the media are part of that, right? we treat everything as if it is all campaigning. real politicians, people who go into public service, want to do something when they get into office, not just win election, the next fight. what you're seeing here are two people trying to focus on getting stuff done and that is -- that's what you want. you want men to stop thinking about campaigning, even if it's in the back of their heads, and get these incredibly difficult things moving. but, you know, does it have a political impact? you bet. the biggest ad in 2004 from president bush was him hugging someone after a natural disaster. the images of katrina, biggest single thing beyond the war in iraq in president bush'

leadership. you cannot get those images out of your head. >> except you know what, there is a certain appeal that i think is coming as a relief to people who are tired, who are tired of the stupidity and, you know what, a politician who can work with the other side, isn't that something that in this new age of politics that's appealing? >> huge. and it's probably a priority of whoever gets elected next tuesday, is to be able to make this country governable again. you saw it between chris christie and barack obama. it's going to be interesting whether there's a different tone. i wouldn't be surprised if you heard the president using words like romnesia. i remember being on the set with you last week, mika, and we were

depressed that that's what the campaign has gone to. and in light of what the president saw in new jersey -- not specifically in reference to the storm himself but the way he talks about the politics and his opponent. i think what we saw between chris christie and barack obama is exact legal what voters say they want. they want politicians who are able to work together and it's certainly what the country needs and it's what financial markets, frankly, are looking at washington for more of, an ability to get things done across the aisle. >> watching the news conference between chris christie and barack obama, i was online as well and sometimes i end up on twitter. i shouldn't look. but there were some comments about chris christie and barack obama and why would chris christie do this and, willie, i was surprised by that. i would think that they know that chris christie is not a pawn. he's not a puppet.

they would know that he's not sort of partisan idiot. he's a politician who runs the state of new jersey. he's going to do what is best for his state. did we not know that about him before? >> he's trying to get federal aid and if that requires rubbing the back of barack obama, so be it. do you believe any of that, mark halperin, republican, some of them have suggested that chris christie is positioning himself for four years from now, he's undermining the romney campaign. are we reading too much in that? are they reading too much into that? >> after 9/11 and other crises, what do people need? efficient delivery of services and inspirational leadership. and the two of them going around saying -- every sound bite we saw is we're on this, responding right away, we get what the problems are and that's the kind of leadership, as donny said, if you are in public life, you must

rise to the occasion. remember, two of his aides worked with him. and he's trying to lead the state. i think this probably won't have much of an impact on the presidential race, that visit yesterday. >> i think we are -- as we all know, at such a tipping point that when you see this and you see, first of all, wow, we do need more government. it's great for less government when everything is doing fine and no natural disasters. we see clearly a president in control. we see clearly bipartisanship at work. katty says, what about the president's dialogue? i think the real challenge is on romney. how does romney get up tomorrow or the next day and start throwing spears? i think this will go down and we will analyze it for years to

come as a tipping point. >> i was talking about the christie piece. >> the christie piece is part of the whole piece. >> this goes right into the romney story we have for you. with the president surveying the storm damage yesterday, mitt romney softened his attack not mentioning the president's name once in three rallies yesterday. instead, he emphasized the need for unity amid the national emergency. >> we've come together in times like this and we want to make sure that they have a speedy and recovery amidst their personal loss. now, people coming together is also what's going to happen, i believe, on november 7th and -- >> so, i mean, i actually -- i don't know how much it would hurt to go further and say that the president is doing a good job. this is sort of like a foreign policy crisis where you don't

step in it and you actually maybe even step aside and i think that could be a sign of leadership as well. but he's certainly not hurting himself by awkwardly campaigning as if nothing was going on. >> i think that's right. i think mitt romney did the only thing he could do which is to lay low. a grace period, i guess, and the president is going to be back on the campaign trail. mitt romney didn't even mention the name yesterday. perhaps he learned from his mistake, if you believe that they were a mistake, from the attack in benghazi. >> clearly i think the campaign thought he jumped in far too quickly in benghazi and that was a move they regretted. he was out yesterday in florida campaigning. there were attacks against barack obama's leadership style and reference to fema and the role of government in federal emergencies. but i think this quantifies -- i think it changes the race in the

sense that it changes the tone of the race in the last few days and i think the president has managed -- whether it's inside the beltway that likes the symbolism of barack obama and chris christie and the take away for people arnt the country who are watching this very closely, when i've spoken to people in texas, california, they are all focused on this story, seeing the president in the role as president does have an impact. when we come back, the campaign mitt romney should have won. josh green will explain a possible missed opportunity for the republican candidate. also, she is a multiple grammy winner. legendary singer and songwriter carole king. but, first, bill karins with the forecast. bill? >> we're still recovering from hurricane sandy and it's going to be weeks and months in some instances. we can finally say bye to this

storm. and it's about time. now we need beautiful weather for the power crews to do their jobs and the cleanup that has affected so many people in this region. rainy and snowy weather in some spots. some areas got three to four feet. the mountains of north carolina where they are already skiing. because it's cold, that makes it worse. people are really hurting out there trying to wait for the power to go back on in their homes. people huddling in rooms together. it's not a pretty scene, as you would expect. forecast, only up in the 50s. that's about t i don't see warm temperatures coming any time soon. middle of the country looks great. northwest, we have a pretty big storm coming into portland and up to seattle. shouldn't lose power or anything but rainy. finally, the next big forecast is the election day forecast.

the rain can affect the turnout. it's not looking like a very stormy weather map. i was worried about the storm along the east coast but right now it's staying off shore. wet weather in the northern plains in wisconsin and minnesota. even that shouldn't stop people from getting out to the polls. new york city, it's amazingly quiet. checkpoints are stopping people with at least three people coming in to the city. amazing lines to get into manhattan city.

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our country has huge problems, huge problems, structural problems that require people that actually want to solve problems rather than just talk about them or excuse the way why it is that things are working. you know, president obama was dealt a tough happened. we hear this every day, almost, if you watch tv. you know, and, of course, it's my brother's fault for everything that goes on. it's almost as if the dog ate the homework when you are going through a tough time. a live look at washington, d.c. joining us from washington is jork wa green. and in the magazine's issue, josh asks the question, what if about the romney campaign and writes this. instead of putting romney's career at the center of his campaign, romney has taken pains

to avoid it. after an early attempt to portray himself as a job creator, ceding that story allowed his opponents to frame the race around the most unflattering details of his layoffs, plant close cannings and portray romney as a capitalist. if he loses, that will be why. even if he wins, his candidacy will have reinforced some of the worst stereotypes that the american public has about the busy le business elite. i think also, josh, just to sort of add to this point or to layer on, it seems like they work very hard to undermine the president's accomplishments which i think many see as accomplishments and many see it as ideological differences or a direction that they wouldn't take and now they are really

stuck in an awkward position as the president handles this crisis that we're facing right now. >> i think that's exactly right. one of the defining stories of this race is whether or not romney wins or loses, is how his business career wound up being portrayed and as he said in the intro as a vulture capitalist who closed plants and laid people off. but if you understand that career in its fuller context, romney first as a management consultant and later as a private equity guy was at the forefront in the 1980s that had the overall effect of being more competitive in the world. i think that's actually a story that really would have held some appeal to voters and balanced out the portrayal of romney that we did get in the race but for a variety of reasons he didn't tell that story and i think instead was defined by the opposition, both republicans in the primary, like rick perry and newt gingrich, and, of course,

super pacs that took the baton after. >> there's no question that romney is the unfeeling one percenter. the question is, you touched on it a little bit, why didn't it happen? why didn't the romney campaign use his bain experience as a positive? >> i think it's a mystery to a lot of people in politics. i'm not entirely clear as well. he had a tough primary in the gop. he didn't have a lot of money to burst out of the gate and define himself. partly it reflected an innate caution on mitt romney's part that you see running through his business career. if you go back two years ago and think about what the world looked like when romneys was getting ready to run for president, unemployment was 10%, no president was elected above 7.2%. it was clear that the race was going to be be about the economy and if you're mitt romney and

know what you've done and genuinely accomplished as a businessman, i think he felt that would be to his benefit and he could win the race simply by presenting a referendum on barack obama but it hasn't really worked out that way. >> richard wolffe. >> josh, you write about business people, for business people. and i just wonder if it's possible to make the case that ce ceo are great political leaders. could you tell a business person, you know, all of the skills that you have running a business translate really nicely. whether in reality it's an elected official like the commander in chief. can you make that case? >> you know, i think romney could have made that case. let's remember, he's not just a ceo but a successful governor of massachusetts as well. i travel with romney four years ago during his race back when he was actually happy to talk about

this. before the financial crisis, before obama care became a political issue and i watched him make a very compelling case for how his experience as a management consultant made him understand what was wrong with the health care system, translated into government when he became massachusetts governor. he had an understanding of the problem and that was what launched his health care law that was ultimately successful. so i think it would have been tougher to do in this climate, obviously. but he has a story that he can tell. four years ago he wasn't afraid to tell it. i think this time around he was and it's really hurt him. >> mark halperin? >> let me ask you about the president and business. if the president won re-election, do you think big business would give him another chance, say that we're going to work with this guy that's going to be president for four more years, or do you think there's too much bad blood between them? >> that's a great question. talking to the ceos as i do on a regular basis, it's really hard

to see. there's an intense dislike of obama that i frankly don't understand myself. i think there would be some grudging realization in obama is re-elected that this is the president for the next four years, the economy is starting to pick up. i think the real concern among business people is fiscal cliff, tax reform, and all of the things that come up next. >> all right. we should get to the cover at some point, which i think we can put up of bloomberg business week. it's global warming, stupid. we obviously -- that encapsulates the overall conversation, criticism that this hasn't been brought up enough and here we are. >> this is a case for the idea that we as a country should grapple with this. i think this is kind of the moment to begin talking about this. so we've got a great article on why that is. >> josh green, thank you so

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hear her, legendary singer and songwriter, carole king. good to have you back. you were here before the storm. >> i got here before the storm and got here for an event that has canceled. it was going to be alicia keys show, the black ball for keep a child away. >> that never made it to the stage? >> no, it didn't. it will be rescheduled, i'm sure. i wanted to make sure i got here so i came early and was here for the storm and i was in the part of the -- there are two cities and i was in the part that it's okay and it's so erie to sort of be in the part that's okay and see all of the devastation and i just want to say my heart goes out to all of the people that are adversely affected by this and have lost people and i'm so, so sorry. >> there's so much of that going on right now, too. the pictures coming into us, we find it hard to even describe some of the neighborhoods along

the new jersey coastline. of course, the story in breezy point. that's the one that just -- >> i was also here for 9/11. i lived in idaho but i had come to new york and i either bring disaster and encounter. i hope it's not the former. but breezy point, there's so many firefighters and police officers that live there. they are the people we are reminded yet again as people try to cut their pay and destroy their unions, these are the heroes. and all of this tragedy has happened to them. it's so sad. >> and you were talking, carole, in the commercial break the good this brings out, whether it's 9/11 or this. when you look at the way that people treat each other in new york city, it's heartening. if one can be heartened at a moment like this. >> and joplin, missouri and i would like to say this is climate change to say, hello, you should have been talking

about me and i think the political climate is undergoing a change. it has to. and when i hear a politician since this saying negative things, it's like shut up. you know, we don't want to hear that. we want to see people doing their jobs, working together. americans helping other americans and the world really -- the world is -- come to the aid of other people. the tsunamis, all of this stuff. it's like we've got to be here for each other and i'm here today to be here in whatever way i can be. >> we were talking earlier in the show about the conversations happening at press conferences for people for chris christie, whether it's awkward to be side by side with barack obama and to begin the almost impossible crisis of rebuilding.

awkward? how could it even be awkward? that's how bad it's gotten, that that is even a question. >> i hope this does have an effect of making that at tut permanent in everybody. talk about what you are doing or what you're about. stop trashing other people. stop raising money on fear and hatred and anger. >> what would you like to hear or to have heard these candidates say about climate change if a question had been posed, which it wasn't at any of the three debates, what would you like to hear from someone as someone who is so passionate on this issue? >> i would like to hear them discuss it and talk about it but there's a reason that people aren't talking about it in politics because the oil companies basically don't want people talking about it and so the oil companies have a lot of money and a lot of influence and i think that affects both parties and it's unavoidable now. we must talk about it. we must do something.

infrastructure is another thing. people just -- it takes something like this to make people aware that things have to be done for the environment, for the situation in which we live. >> can i ask you to drill down a little bit. if president obama is affected, what do you think would be required in a second term for him to stand up more to the oil companies than he has in the first term? >> for one thing, he won't be running for re-election but it's congress that needs to talk about this. the american people need to be aware that there is a commercial interest that is fighting to hold on to us not addressing problems that that interest is causing. i've become a cynic. it's terrible. i'm a realist. >> as i became older i became more of a realist and less of an idealist but i still have some idealism to say, we can make

change but we have to pay attention and right now people have more things to pay attention to than the future of climate change and yet we are in this situation because we were not -- >> not touched by it. >> we can't let you go without pointing out the month you're about to have. in los angeles, you're getting a star on the hollywood walk of fame and a big star-studded concert in your honor. >> which is to benefit the painted turtle which is a camp for children and it's similar. >> alicia kings, katy perry, vince gill, all out there for a good cause. >> it's an honor. and great to be here. thank you for having me on. >> carole, good to see you. >> thank. coming up, wall street reopened for the first time yesterday since sandy made landfall. cnbc's brian shactman is next on

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every time you have an occasion and take it from the government and send it back to the state, that's the right direction. if you go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. >> right. we should make disaster relief the sole responsibility of the states. who better to respond what is going on inside its own border than the state whose infrastructure has just been swept out to sea. the response should be handled by the individual state that is

the entire eastern seaboard. and in a romney administration, instead of depending on big government, you'll be rescued by private sector volunteers, like paul ryan, who will personally come to your devastated town and wash your already clean pots. >> an analysis review shows that many ignored federal incentives to prepare for severe floods. 100 municipalities in those declared federal disaster ratings received atlantic city, point pleasant beach is just a few of the hardest hit spots by this storm. we've been talking about the long lines this morning for gas all along the tri-state area up and down the coast. but it's not just affecting supply in the east. joining us is brian shactman. this is a big problem. you look at some of these lines and we're talking about miles and miles. >> i spent an entire day yesterday, willie, at a couple

of stations in long island. some of these stations don't even have power to pump gas. there are refinery issues. and then as you mentioned, there's distribution issues, how to get gas to this region and it's created an incredible gas crunch. in terms of demand, people obviously need gas for their generators. they have to refuel the generators. people are driving around, guys, to look for food. people are driving around to charge their phones. people are driving around to find something to do because they are so bored sitting in a dark house and i will tell you, the conch wasn't passed around but there was a lord of the ring feeling when people were doing whatever they could do to get out of there. it was a little alarming. it got pretty tense yesterday.

>> you hear don zimmer, the mayor of hoboken saying the first thing we need is fuel. bellevue hospital has buckets of fuel going upstairs. this is an essential problem. >> i want to get to jobs but i will say that the towns and knew miss pal teas, i've gotten great reviews about feel machlt the post katrina response is embedded in their reaction. they want to do whatever they can to make sure that that type of situation doesn't happen again. quickly, guys, we have the last jobs report before the election. it's big, big stuff. three data points i want to get through if i can. jobless claims down 9,000 to 363. that's a positive number. adp, private sector payrolls up 158,000. that's better than expected although they redid the formula so it's tough to know what was going on there. and the one negative is plant layoffs at a five-month high.

we will see what happens tomorrow. >> mark, given everything that has happened with the storm, does the jobs number have as great of an impact as people thought it might a few weeks ago? >> oh, no. i don't think so. even if the number moves .3 one way or the other, i think this race is pretty set and it gives one side a talking point. >> it's fascinating, the jobs report the last couple of months, they haven't moved the needle a whole lot in terms of polling which is a surprise to many. >> brian shactman, cnbc, thank you so much. coming up, need proof this election has simply gone on too long? >> i love her. >> it's brought a sweet little girl to tears. we'll explain next on "morning joe ".

. i don't think anyone sitting around this table or watching this program would disagree that it's been a long campaign. >> it's been a long campaign. it's been hard. >> and all that came through a 4-year-old girl. ft. collins, colorado.

abigail evans. they are listening to news stories about the campaign. abigail decided she had had enough. >> i'm tired of barack obama and mitt romney. >> that's why you're crying? oh, it will be over soon abby, okay? the election will be over soon, okay? >> okay. >> i'm tired of barack obama and mitt romney. >> i understand. >> npr is the station her mother was listening to offered an apology. they apologized to many others who feel like her. abby, there she is, back to smiling and five days left. >> and mom maybe can turn down npr just for a second. nothing is going to happen for five days.

it can wait. >> five more days, abigail. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. governor of getting it done. you know how to dance... with a deadline. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. this is awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is, business pro. yes, it is. go national. go like a pro.

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>> the president doesn't know how to lead. he's like a man wandering around in a dark room, hands up against the wall, clutching for the light switch of leadership and he just can't find it. he won't find it in the next 18 days. >> obama couldn't find a stack of old newspapers in an episode of hoarders. he couldn't find a container at the container store. i'm telling you. that's when america was living with a prestorm surge mentality. >> i want to thank the president for his personal attention to this. he accelerated without the red tape and the cooperation has been outstanding. the president has been all over this and deserves great credit. >> i guess he found that [ bleep ] light switch, huh? >> okay. it's time now to talk about what we learned today. bill karins, we'll start with you. >> it feels really good to watch when people come together for

the greater goodness. i hope people in congress is watching. >> it's nice to see two people doing their jobses and not worrying for a moment anyway about politics. >> chris christie. >> they can't help themselves. they have to ask. like what -- i have to say, it's all in the question at some point when it comes to chris christie. but there you go. ma mark halperin. >> even the republicans are worried that this is going to affect the election. >> so is the swing state looking good for the president or --? >> republican ares dispute it's good for the president. >> prestorm we were not sure how this would go. are we feeling less that way? >> david axelrod will keep his mustache. >> thank god. it's going to be a long haul. willie what time is